Social media marketing firms

NEW YORK: A Nike Inc sneaker worn by a college basketball superstar split in half less than a minute into a highly anticipated game between Duke University and North Carolina, prompting an outcry on social media as the company sought to figure out what caused the problem.Zion Williamson, a 6-foot-7-inch freshman forward for the Duke Blue Devils who is anticipated to be the top 2019 NBA Draft pick, suffered a mild sprain to his right knee because of the incident on Wednesday night, according to his coach Mike Krzyzewski.The official Duke Basketball Twitter handle (@DukeMBB) tweeted Thursday evening that Zion was "progressing as expected, and his status is day-to-day."A closeup video replay showed Williamson slipping and crumpling to the ground, clutching his knee in pain. His left shoe is seen split in half, with part of the sole ripped off the base of the sneaker.Williamson did not return to play in the match-up, which ended with No. 1-ranked Duke losing 72-88 to the No. 8-ranked Tar … [Read more...] about Nike stumbles into social media storm after basketball star’s shoe splits

REUTERS: The clock may be fast running out on Sears Holdings Corp , but you wouldn't know it from the company's feisty posts on Twitter.As the company and its bankruptcy advisers prepare for a possible liquidation, the retailer has taken to social media to reassure the public that it is still around."We are down, but not out... - SMT," Sears, via its official Twitter account (@Sears), said in reply to one of the many posts Monday morning about the 126-year-old company potentially going out of business.Another Twitter user opined that the retailer "had a good run I would say." Sears replied: "We would say that as well, but we are Marathon Runners, and we are still running. We may be slowing down, but we are not out of the race just yet. Don't count us completely out. Happy Shopping! -SMT"The "SMT" signoff is for the Sears Social Media Team that runs the Twitter account, which has a following of 209,000, significantly smaller than many of its retail peers.The company declined to comment … [Read more...] about ‘We are down, but not out’: Sears gets feisty on social media

LONDON: Celebrities and influencers who endorse products without labelling their social media posts as paid-for by brands were warned on Thursday that they were breaking the rules as Britain's regulator launched an investigation into the trend.Recommendation from celebrities and social media influencers who have millions of followers is a growing marketing strategy for brands, but the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that such endorsements could mislead customers.It said it had seen posts that appeared to promote items or offer a celebrity's personal endorsement of a product, without it being clear whether the post had been paid for by the brand in question."If people see clothes, cosmetics, a car, or a holiday being plugged by someone they admire, they might be swayed into buying it," said George Lusty, the CMA’s Senior Director for Consumer Protection."So it's really important they are clearly told whether a celebrity is promoting a product because they have … [Read more...] about #UnfairCommercialPractice? UK investigates celebrities over social media promotions

Last August, social media personalities Youtiao666 and Preetipls and local singer Nathan Hartono were featured in an anti-theft awareness video. The video - a collaboration between make-up retailer Sephora and the Singapore Police Force (SPF) - was a hit with more than 120,000 views on Facebook, thanks to its over-the-top antics and comedic story line. It had Preeti Nair's online persona Preetipls - known for saying and doing politically incorrect things - stealing Hartono's dog and getting arrested for pocketing make-up. Michelle Lee and Charlotte Tan, the duo behind Youtiao666, were also transformed into an SPF anti-theft standee. The choice of influencers and the video's unconventional story line were deliberate. "Sephora chose to engage Youtiao666, Preetipls and Nathan Hartono for a social media campaign that took a tongue-in-cheek approach that... resonated with Sephora's affirmative stand on diversity and inclusiveness," a spokesman for Sephora told The New Paper. A spokesman for … [Read more...] about Reaching out to tap on social media influencers’ reach

Ever since the 2016 US presidential election, with its revelations about Russian meddling, European officials have been on the lookout for similar attacks. But Europeans aren’t the only ones paying attention. So, too, are China’s leaders, who are considering what they might learn from the Kremlin’s successes. For Chinese President Xi Jinping, maintaining domestic stability is a top priority, a point underscored by the country’s annual budget for internal security. At well over US$100 billion, the official number is low. Like defence outlays, the real number is much higher, owing to hidden spending, including on research and development.For example, China is exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) and big data can be used to monitor everything from social media to credit-card spending, and it plans to assign all citizens a social-reliability rating to weed out potential troublemakers. The regime’s Orwellian strategy is focused squarely on social media … [Read more...] about Will China weaponise social media?